what if things go wrong?

Victoria25

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Ive seen a few posts about mares rejecting their foals etc ... my mare is the most loving horse you could ever imagine but as an arab she's still extremely highly strung and takes her time to bond with other horses ... shes a maiden so not sure what to expect ... what happens if 1) she wont let it drink and 2) wont go near it? Im assuming you have to sedate via vet to let it drink - has this happened to anyone on here?
 
Never with my own mares but I have had it with a friends mare. Her delivery was a really bad delivery and the foal was born dummy. There were multiple problems tbqh as owner had allowed the stages to go on much longer than is normal. I ended up going over in the middle of the night as from what I was hearing on the telephone the mare was definitely in trouble (incidentally with her foal the following year she had as much trouble and although I did eventually manage to pull that foal out of her, it was dead by that time as owner waited way too long to do anything). Anyhow going back to foal number 1, it was born dummy and took a long time to get going. Once it did, the mare was in a state and would not allow it to suckle. I eventually twitched her, foal got a good solid drink and lay down to sleep. I left my twitch there and suggested to owner that they keep watch to make sure mare would continue to allow foal to drink at the next feeding. Mare didn't so they had to twitch her again but after that she was okay with it feeding. I wouldn't use sedative for this but others may. I'm quite cautious about what mares are given at any point pre or post delivery (unless possibly if foal was dead/stillborn) which could potentially adversely affect the foal, and especially in this case where the foal was born dummy.
 
Ive seen a few posts about mares rejecting their foals etc ... my mare is the most loving horse you could ever imagine but as an arab she's still extremely highly strung and takes her time to bond with other horses ... shes a maiden so not sure what to expect ... what happens if 1) she wont let it drink and 2) wont go near it? Im assuming you have to sedate via vet to let it drink - has this happened to anyone on here?

Arab mares have a much higher incidence of rejecting foals than other breeds so be very aware of this.
Is she a maiden mare and are you experienced as i would make sure that you have plenty of experienced people on hand.
That way every thing should be fine as is always the case.
If she was a maiden and you are inexperienced i would consider sending her to someone more experienced as usually if an arab mare rejects a foal she means business.
We have used sedatives and have dealt with mares that have rejected foals for very varying differant reasons but with careful handling they have eventually all been reunited even if they have been taken away initially.
If the mare is just sore then a bit of sedative and possibly a twitch ,holding a leg up will help
I have an arab mare to foal that rejected her first as a maiden so i may change my views on all of the above after the foal is born
 
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Our worst rejection by far was an Arab maiden so be prepared it is a fine line with maidens between intervening and interference. We got there but it took 3days and round the clock standing over her and some tough love. We had to sedate to get the foal on which was not ideal but she would have killed the filly andus otherwise and we needed to get the colostrum down her. Eventually we just had to hold her and a leg up for the filly to suck and she didnt mind her as long as she kept away. Just as we were considering giving up she suddenly twigged it was her baby and loved it to bits but I have never had a fostering as hard as this mare.
 
Our stallions mum is part arab and she would not let him suckle we had to use the twitch every hour to let him feed I was taught by the vet to be tough love with her she had already kicked my hubby across the stable we basicly lived in her stable for 24 hours and finally 23 hours later she just decided to love him and let him drink all by herself after that she was the best mum and herd leader and she even bossed our 16.3 hh stallion she was only 14hh she has left us an aming legacy her grandson is adorable she lives on.
Good luck you just need to be calm caring and strong minded
 
Mine are all Arabs or part breds and I have never had any problems with difficult births or mares rejecting (nearly 30 foalings). Horses pick up on stress and I suspect some of the owners could be to blame for some rejections. As Maestro said, there is a fine line between intervening and interference. Keep everything calm and only intervene if you have to. Allow the mare time to bond but if things go wrong and she won't let the foal suckle, get the vet to sedate her as quickly as possible. Some mares are just sore from the birthing process and a foal trying furiously to find the milk bar can increase her discomfort.
 
I had a very bad rejection in avisiting older maiden mare (Irish Draught) after a bad foaling. Didn't matter much for the 1st 10 hours as she hadn't let any milk down - so we just stuffed the foal with frozen colostrum (obviously thawed first:D) Then milk let down and she WOULDN'T let the filly suck! So we twitched her and jammed her up a corner - every 2 hours. It got to the stage where I didn't have to twitch her - I'd put my head over the door and say "Stand up BITCH!" in my fiercest voice - foal would leap to its feet at the sound of my voice and she'd let it drink as long as I stood there and glared at her. But after 5 days of having to get up every 2 hours to supervise the feeding I got bored. So I turned them out in the manege and got 2 of my biggest dogs into the manege with them - foal was one end of the manege, being TOTALLY ignored! Mare saw dogs - and the penny dropped. She rushed to the foal to protect it and we had no more trouble from then on.

Another young maiden mare had a dummy foal - he spent 7 days trying his hardest to die and during that time didn't suckle at all. We left him with her and milked her out every two hours - but it was a struggle to get enough bottle into him, so he needed regular stomach tubing too. On day 8 he jumped to his feet (the first time he'd got up on his own) and went straight to Mum and started drinking. She was perfect with him despite the very strange first week!
 
Mine are all Arabs or part breds and I have never had any problems with difficult births or mares rejecting (nearly 30 foalings). Horses pick up on stress and I suspect some of the owners could be to blame for some rejections. As Maestro said, there is a fine line between intervening and interference. Keep everything calm and only intervene if you have to. Allow the mare time to bond but if things go wrong and she won't let the foal suckle, get the vet to sedate her as quickly as possible. Some mares are just sore from the birthing process and a foal trying furiously to find the milk bar can increase her discomfort.

If you talk to any big repro vet or studs that breed pure bred arabs (and we have quite a few clients that are big showing people)it is fairly well documented that arabs have a much higher incidence of rejecting or savaging foals
 
Hi and thanks for all the replies :D

Although I've had horses since I've been a child (wow, that makes me feel very old), the whole 'breeding' side is new to me - I worked on a showing yard and dealt with foals but never my own - especially with the mare in question being my entire world ... I bought her from an amazing arab breeder who is a very good friend of mine at the age of 3 and at 11 she's now having her first baby :D

Yes, I have lots and lots of experienced breeder friends to hand (who actually specialise arabs funnily enough) who will be there helping and a very good vet on hand. Im def not one not to ask for help when its needed :o

She has the most wonderful temprament which is why I wanted a foal from her (the foal is for me to keep) I was just thinking of 'worst case scenarios' :D

Ive actually got a lot of time off around the time of her 'due date' which can be changed to suit how she goes so can be there 24 hours a day for a good few weeks.

Any more advice welcome :)
 
Sounds as though you are well covered and lovely thing I find in the horse world is on the whole we love our animals and can extend it to the good of others. With Arabs I find they bond with people so I would suggest while you need your back up there, if all is going well keep your one to one bond with her and let her know you are there for her.
 
@Maestro ... 100% agree, the bond we have is very special - she's like a very large dog - we're lucky to have a very open plan layout at the yard so headcollars etc are never used - she hears my car turn up, she's at the gate waiting, I say "in" and point to stable, in she goes .. if shes in the barn loose when im mucking out she'll follow me to the muck heap and comes back in to watch the goings on ... makes the whole foal experience extra special (and nervewracking) :D

Cant wait to see what actually comes out - she's a straight egyptian arab and we've put her to Wolkenderry

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